Tag Archives: elspa

Looks like the UK will finally get a games download chart thanks to the deal wrangling skills of the ELSPA and Chart-Track.

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Hardware sales in the UK are down a heavy 32 percent so far this year.

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UK trade organisation ELSPA’s claimed that 32 percent of the UK population now play games.

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The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) has announced that it’s to change its name to UK Interactive Entertainment Association.

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Boxed UK game sales took a major hit in 2009, according to Chart-Track, with overall numbers down 18 percent for the year.

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According to figures by ELSPA today, over 6.7 million games consoles were sold in the UK last year.

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ELSPA’s announced that Xbox 360 overtook Wii as the biggest software format by revenue in the UK last year.

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ELSPA just confirmed 2009 as the second largest year on record for games in the UK, with revenue coming in at £3.311 billion, down from £4.034 billion the previous year.

The figure respresents a drop of 17.9%, year-on-year.

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ELSPA has awarded Modern Warfare 2 the highest sales award possible with a diamond sales award.

Obviously, as you know, the game sold over 1.7 million units in it’s launch week, with over a million on the 360 alone.

Infinity Ward’s shooter is only the sixteenth game to get a diamond award, which is only achievable when a game sells over 1 million.

The game also recieved a double platinum award for the PS3 version, which means the game has sold over at least 600,000 units.

As for the PC SKU: nada. Sorry about that.

Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo and the Shadow Minister for Culture have each been announced to speak at the London Games Conference on October 27 at BAFTA.

According to the press release, the conference “will tackle the biggest issues facing publishers and developers today: How to strengthen relationships with their playing customers and how to sell products to them in the years ahead through digital distribution.”

“I’m delighted to be speaking to the London Games Conference,” said Shadow Minister for Culture, Ed Vaizey. “The games sector is one of the most successful creative industries in the UK, but it has been forgotten by Government. While Canada and France aggressively compete to attract games talent, all UK politicians talk about is video games violence.

“Yet this sector should be a dream for a politician – it recruits people qualified in difficult subjects, like maths and computer science; it’s regional, with clusters all over the country; and it’s successful and world-beating. Government backing for the games sector should be a no-brainer.”

Andy Payne, chair of ELSPA, Phil Harrison, Edge editor Tony Mott and Intent MD Stuart Dinsey are all expected to chair panels during the conference.

Full press release through the break.

Thanks, GoNintendo.

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The UK Government has decided to create a cross-departmental committee to examine issues affecting the videogame industry.

ELSPA’s first meeting with Minister for Creative Industries Siôn Simon last week was the catalyst for the formation.

“The news was indeed upbeat,” said ELSPA director general Michael Rawlinson. “The Minister assured us that the Government is confident of being able to introduce pro-PEGI legislation before the next election.

“We also covered the other hot topic of the moment: tax breaks for the industry. Siôn Simon confirmed that the Treasury is now open in principle to the idea of tax breaks for the country’s video games industry.

“But endlessly calling for tax breaks is not enough. What is obvious is that hard evidence has so far been very lacking so the Minister has now asked ELSPA to help further the debate by furnishing that evidence. This, of course, we are happy to do.”

Committee members are comprised of representatives from the Departments of Culture, Media and Sport; Business Innovation and Skills; Health; the Home Office; and the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

More through MCV.

Thanks, StickBoy.

ELSPA’s promoted MD Michael Rawlinson to director general, the trade body announced this morning.

Paul Jackson, who currently holds the position, will move into an “advisory role”.

Press release after the link.

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The ELSPA has awarded Media Molecule’s LittleBigPlanet Gold Status meaning the Sony flagship title has sold over 200,000 copies in the UK.

As Edge points out, the game is still selling steadily even though it dropped out of the UK Top Ten just one week after its fourth place début.

Sony has labelled the game “evergreen” meaning it will continue to sell for the months to come and blamed the crowded holiday season for the title not remaining in the all format Top Ten for a longer period.

More through the Edge link.

By Mike Bowden

ELSPA managing director Michael Rawlinson has proclaimed that family titles are responsible for the huge upturn in UK games revenue, and that games themselves are “bringing families together.”

“It is encouraging to see that the popularity of video games continues to grow year-on-year,” he said.

“More than ever, video gaming is increasingly bringing families together with the introduction of so many outstanding family-based console titles. These have really opened up the market to those who may never have even considered playing a video game before.”

Thanks, MCV.

By Mike Bowden

ELSPA data shows that UK consumers spent £4.03 billion on videogame products in 2008 with Nintendo’s Wii system accounting for almost a quarter of all software sold.

Wii sold over 20 million games last year which is an increase of 112 percent over 2007.

Software sales as a whole were up 23% over last year, rising to a total of £1.9 billion, whereas consoles accounted for £1.422 billion.

Xbox 360 software saw 51 per cent sales increase, while PlayStation 3 software jumped 145 per cent, with 10.4 million games sold.

“Videogaming is increasingly bringing families together with the introduction of so many outstanding family-based console titles,” said Michael Rawlinson, MD of ELSPA.

“These have really opened up the market to those who may never have even considered playing a videogame before.”

More over at BBC.

By Mike Bowden

According to this GI story, PEGI’s traffic light symbols are to go live in Europe this spring.

The ratings body will tweak it’s original design after the BBFC said it would take legal advise over the fact it all looked a bit “similar” to its own symbols.

“PEGI has agreed those changes and they will be implemented as part of the PEGI system in the new year, probably in the spring by the time the information has been transmitted to all publishers and incorporated as part of the approvals process for the format holders,” said ELSPA MS Michael Rawlinson.

Ratings: amazing. More through the link.

According to this Edge piece, the BBFC is taking legal advice over ELSPA’s newly announced traffic light ratings symbols.

“Our classification symbols have been colour-coded since 1982. They’re very widely recognised, and in fact they are trademark and copyright protected,” said a rep.

“We’re happy for ELSPA to make sensible improvements, but not if they encroach on the protection of the BBFC’s symbols. We have these symbols using colours, using circles and using numbers, so we are now taking legal advice.”

Whoops. More through the link.

Speaking with GI at Develop last week, Paul Wedgwood, the man behind Splash Damage, said that the idea of the UK games industry receiving tax breaks is “a complete pile of toss.”

“I absolutely love game development in the UK,” he said.

“I just don’t like all this rubbish about us needing charitable handouts to be successful as an industry, it’s a complete pile of toss. It isn’t why we’re suffering as an industry and I don’t think it’s going to solve it.”

His comments come after a flurry of recent ELSPA and Tiga lobbying activity on the subject of tax breaks as a developer aid. Wedgwood himself believes the problem rests with the publishers themselves.

“It is difficult to recruit if you pay crap money, and the UK as a whole was paying rubbish money,” he said.

“The money is there, the publishers have it, they can afford to pay staff in the UK exactly what they pay in the US, they’ve just got away with not having to.”

Full interview through the link.

By Mike Bowden

ELSPA just issued a press release saying the first six months of 2008 are a record for the UK in terms of games sales, with 31.3 million games sold generating a revenue of £738 million.

“Games are now one of the most popular pastimes of the British – hence these remarkable figures. Our gamers are more mature than those of most countries – the average age of a player here is now 33 – and as our core gamers have grown up, so too have the revenues they bring in. Games are also proving themselves to be robustly recession-proof. Other retailers in the High Street have been struggling this year, but those selling games are not having such a tough time,” said ELSPA boss Paul Jackson.

“Britain leads the way across Europe – and one in three games sold across the EU is also developed here. The challenge now is to ensure our success is not taken for granted at home or undervalued in any way – and to ensure we have the home-grown talent to ensure we will still be leading the way five years down the road.”

Press release after the link.

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ELSPA head Paul Jackson just responded to yesterday’s Government comment saying tax breaks for UK developers are now being assessed, welcoming in the move but saying putting age ratings onto the BBFC in the UK will fail in its aim to protect children.

“We appreciate comments from Government about its support and the work being done for the UK video games industry,” he said. “We look forward to working closely with them in the near future to make good this commitment. Of immediate concern is the issue of age ratings where it is crucial that following the public consultation on games age ratings, the UK adopts the Pan European PEGI system for games sold in store and online.

“The facts are that any other conclusion from this process, including the proposed expansion of the remit of the film ratings body, the BBFC, will result in a significant and prohibitive logistical and financial burden on the games industry. This will lead to increased costs of bringing games to market and could also significantly de-stabilise the UK’s influence and position within the European games industry. More importantly, it will have failed in its main objective – protecting children.”

The BBFC was picked as the main giver of age ratings in the UK in the wake of the Byron Report.